Maggie Lemere

Maggie Lemere is a 2021 National Geographic Explorer, documentary filmmaker, oral historian and storytelling and social change strategist who has worked across the U.S., Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe. Maggie is the co-founder of Rhiza, a women-led collective that uses storytelling, healing, organizing, and research to support social transformation and environmental justice—and she is currently directing and producing independent documentary films in the Middle East and Southeast Asia that explore communities' efforts to protect the environment. Her work also includes founding and hosting the podcast, Bad Feminists Making Films, leading Storytelling for Changemakers workshops globally with Ashoka: Innovators for the Public; acting as oral historian for the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and the DC Oral History Collaborative; and working as storytelling strategist for Georgetown University’s Institute for Women, Peace and Security. Maggie is also on the leadership team of Tuyo Media, a new kind of J School and collaborative network that equips, connects and supports a new, more representative generation of journalists. Maggie previously published Nowhere to Be Home: Narratives from Burma’s Military Regime. She is passionate about expanding voice and representation in storytelling and film and creating frameworks for high-quality and high-impact collaborative filmmaking.